This invention relates to thermal imaging devices and in particular to thermal imaging devices comprising an array of pyroelectric detector elements responsive to infrared radiation.
The main factor limiting the performance of existing pyroelectric imaging devices in detecting an image of a scene focussed on the array of pyroelectric detector elements is the thermal conductance between adjacent detector elements and between each detector element and the supporting and interrogating structure.
U.K. Patent Application No. 2163596A discloses a thermal imaging device comprising a ferroelectric slab bearing a common electrode on one main surface and a signal electrode structure on the opposite main surface. The signal electrode structure is electrically connected to electrodes of a circuit substrate by means of conductors The transverse heat conduction between adjacent conductors is reduced by incorporating conductors each in a respective pillar of thermally insulating material, the pillars also being effective to support the ferroelectric slab.